Antarctic Exploration

Early Antarctic Exploration timeline 1773 - 1958:

Captain James Cook

1772, 1773, 1775 First circumnavigation of the Antarctic

James Cook

Englishman James Cook made several trips south, searching for the southern continent that so many explorers thought must be there. He was the first to sail across the Antarctic Circle before the ice made him turn the ship around. In 1773 and 1774, he again sailed to find the continent, again crossing the Antarctic Circle, and going further south than anyone else had been. In 1775 he again tried, and this trip completed a circle around the outside of the continent. (circumnavigation).

1823 Furthest south: James Weddell

Englishman James Weddell led an expedition to find the continent. His ship reached furthest point south ever reached, further south than Cook had reached. However, they did not sight the continent and turned back. The Weddell Sea and Weddell seals are named after him.

1820 First sight of Antarctica: Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen

The Czar of Russia put Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen in charge of an expedition to find the southern continent. He mapped the South Sandwich Islands, which Cook had seen but not explored. Bellinghausen's work proved that these were an archipelago, or group, of islands, one of which is now known as Bellinghausen Island. The expedition travelled further, and crossed the Antarctic Circle. They saw big areas of ice and icy mountains in the distance. Bellinghausen Sea and the Russian research station Bellinghausen in the South Shetlands are named after him.

Three days later, a British team of Edward Bransfield and William Smith had a clear view of ice and mountains and are credited with the first sighting of the continent.

1840 First landing on Antarctic: Dumont d'Urville

The Emperor of France decided in 1836 that France had to take part in the exploration of the new southern continent and assigned Dumont d'Urville to lead and expedition to locate the South Magnetic Pole. In January 1838 the ships found the Antarctic peninsula region. They were unable to progress much further and went to Chile and then Tasmania. In 1840 they set sail for Antarctica again and this time the first ever landing on the continent was made. The area where they landed was named Terra Adelie after d'Urville's wife Adelie. There were penguins there that no one had ever seen, and so d'Urville named them, also after his wife. They are now known as Adelie penguins.

1841 Sight of volcanoes: James Clark Ross

British naval officer James Clark Ross led expeditions to explore the Arctic and to discover the North Magnetic Pole. Between 1839 and 1843, he mapped most of Antarctica's coastline, discovering the Ross Sea in 1841, and two volcanoes which he named after the two ships of his expedition : Mt Terror and Mt Erebus.

The Southern Cross Expedition, also known as the British Antarctic Expedition. Led by Carsten Borchgrevink, this expedition was the first to spend winter on Antarctica by plan, the first to land on the great ice barrier and to introduce dog sleds to travel on the continent. The sled journey took them further south than anyone had so far been. The expedition carried out scientific observations. Their base was of pre-fabricated wooden huts that were little more than large sheds. There were many difficulties with them, due to draughts and carbon monoxide poisoning due to lack of ventilation and burning fuel inside the huts.

1902 First flight in Antarctica: Robert Falcon Scott

A balloon carrying Robert Falcon Scott made the first flight in Antarctica, reaching a height of 250 m. Later the same day, the balloon carried Earnest Shackleton, who took the first aerial photographs of Antarctica.

1911 First to reach the South Pole: Roald Amundsen

Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen led an expedition to be the first to reach the South Pole, travelling by dog sleds.

Read about it here

1927 First flight over the South Pole: Richard Byrd

American explorer Richard Byrd, together with three companions, made the first flight over the South Pole. They flew from their base on the Ross Ice Shelf to the Pole and back in 18 and a half hours. This was an achievement because magnetic compasses were not of any use so near the Pole and it was Byrd's excellent navigation skills that made it possible.

1957-58 Geophysical Year

The focus of this year was on Antarctic exploration and scientific studies. The South Pole station was built.

If you use any of this in your own work, acknowledge this source in your bibliography like this:

kidcyber

Welcome to www.kidcyber.com.au, a website established in 1999 for primary students and teachers.

We provide:

Easy to understand text for student research, including material for primary school students K-6Easy to navigate formatUnits of work and lesson plans for teachers on a variety of topics in key learning areaskidcyberQuests: student webquest assignments with links to information sites for research, project ideas, evaluation'Ask a kidcyber Researcher' feature where students can request specific information about a topicAdvice to parents about helping with school homework assignments and projects

Who are we?

The writers and publishers of kidcyber are Shirley Sydenham, a primary teacher, and Ron Thomas, a primary teacher-librarian. We are authors (together, individually and with others) of numerous books for teachers and kids, published in Australia and overseas. Recent books written together include Using the Library 1, 2 & 3; Thinking Through Themes (4 titles: Air, Fire, Water, Earth); and The Perfect School Project, published by and available at Teaching Solutions.

Our Audience

Students from K to 8, their teachers and parents.Homeschool students and their parents.Teacher Librarians

DISCLAIMER: In the interest of a safe, educational online experience. kidcyber provides links to other web pages, selected and examined for their appropriateness, to provide more information about a particular topic. kidcyber has no control over the information at these sites or links made from them to others sites, which might be considered inappropriate by some people. kidcyber cannot be held responsible for inappropriate sites Note: all kidcyber topics are regularly checked, updated and added to, so keep checking out this website.

The Australian Copyright Act 1968 (the Act) allows 10% of the number of words on this website to be reproduced and/or communicated by any Australian educational institution for its educational purposes provided that the educational institution (or the body that administers it) has given a Notice to Copyright Agency under part VB of the Act. For details of the CAL licence for educational institutions contact: Copyright Agency. Level 15, 233 Castlereagh Street Sydney NSW 2000 Telephone: +612 9394 7600 Facsimile: +612 9394 7601 E-mail: info@copyright.com.au

Except as permitted under the Act (for example for the services of the Crown or in reliance on one of the fair dealing exceptions i.e. a fair dealing for the purposes of research or study) no part of this website may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, communicated or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission. All inquiries should be made to the copyright owner at us@kidcyber.com.au